The Teachable Moment Extension
by 5Mississippis
Summary: Penny extends a teachable moment to Sheldon set immediately after The Itchy Brain Simulation.


The Teachable Moment Extension

Rated – M (for language)

Leonard and Penny

**Contains spoilers for: **

**The Romance Resonance**

**The Itchy Brain Simulation**

**The Discovery Dissipation**

It was a very slow night at The Cheesecake Factory and with the slowness came boredom. And the boredom begat Penny's usual fantastical thoughts of how she would react when they opened the envelope and announced her name for the Best Actress Oscar. In tonight's version, it was surprised crying with a hand over her chest combo. Smiling, she would turn in her seat towards Leonard, who was unashamedly crying in joy for her too. He would give her a big hug followed by a kiss. He would then stand applauding as she slipped past him on her way to the stage as the audience was going mad with cheers. She'd wear a beep red gown … no, no … dark blue with beep delicate silver beading … make it look like the beep night sky …

It was the beeping of her cell phone that brought Penny out of her reverie. Searching for her phone amongst the order pad and pens in her pocket, she suppressed a flare of anxiety. No one ever called. They usually communicated by text. Something must be up.

It was Amy. Penny pressed the photo of Amy and the call connected.

"Hey, Ames! What's up?"

"Hey, Bestie. I just want to give you a heads up. I'm terribly sorry to report that the DVD situation between Sheldon and Leonard has reached its inevitable, ugly, screaming conclusion."

"I knew it had to be something to do with that stupid sweater! What happened?"

"The usual, Leonard was bested by Sheldon. But there was a cruel edge to the challenge that was shocking. Sheldon had known about the DVD seven years ago and paid for it. He had just left it laying in wait to serve as a teachable moment."

"Son-of-a-bitch! So Leonard never had to wear the sweater?! He wore it for nothing?!"

"Yes. To both questions."

"That bastard!"

"That's a little strong but it displease me as well. I thought you should know that when Leonard removed the sweater, his torso was a livid shade of red and he was covered with welts. He then ran screaming into his room with bags of frozen peas on his nipples."

"Oh my God!"

"You may want to stop at CVS on your way home and get some Unguentine."

"Thanks, Ames," Penny said as she hung up the phone and started to untie the strings from her apron. "Millie," she called to the restaurant manager, "I'm leaving right now. Got an emergency at home."

…..

Less than twenty minutes later, thanks to playing a real life game of Urban NASCAR with the other drivers in the Pasadena streets, Penny arrived at Leonard's and Sheldon's apartment with a bag from CVS clutched in her fist. Sheldon was nowhere to be seen, thank goodness. She'd deal with him later.

_A teachable moment, my ass._

Going to Leonard's room, Penny started to quietly open the door. She could hear Leonard whimpering softly as she did.

A thin sliver of light from the hallway sliced the darkness in the room. At first it was thin and fragile, but it slowly swelled, gathering strength, filling the dark room as Penny opened the door.

The light fell on Leonard, the very picture of misery. He sat stiffly on the edge of his bed, his face a grimace, moaning softly. His torso was a fiery shade of red. Penny had seen it when it was all splotchy, but now all the splotches had congealed into one red mass. He held his arms away from his body as he tried to prevent the tender areas on his chest and arms from coming in contact with one another. One of the bags of now unfrozen mushy peas had fallen to the floor, the other had slipped from his hand and rested on the bed.

Penny's heart broke.

"Penny! What are you doing here? You should be at work," Leonard said painfully through his clenched teeth.

"Awww, sweetie. Amy told me what happened. And I knew you would need me," she said as she walked towards her boyfriend and could feel the heat radiating from his arms and chest.

Frustrated and in pain, Leonard began to cry like he did when he was on her couch. "I'm such an idiot! I never needed to wear the sweater! I let Sheldon manipulate me into wearing it."

"I know … and you are an idiot for letting him get to you like that. But let's start to take care of you and make you feel a little better, OK?"

"How?" Leonard responded miserably.

"Well, I'm going to start a nice bath for you so you can soak in some cool water and in this bag," Penny lifted the plastic CVS bag so he could see, "I've got lotions and potions and all sorts of things to ease that fire on your skin. But first," Penny said as she opened her pocketbook and rifled through the contents. Finding what she needed, she returned her attention to the CVS bag and going through it, removed two boxes and started ripping the cardboard to get to the bottles. "Before your bath, I have some pills I want you to take. Here are two Tylenol tablets for pain, some Benadryl to help with swelling and itching, and this is a Valium to help you relax."

Leonard eyed the pill suspiciously. "Where did you get Valium?"

"They're Mrs. Wolowitz's. She doesn't even know she takes them," Penny added with small laugh. "A while ago, I was having trouble sleeping and Bernadette gave me a few, to help me relax. I never took them but always held onto them just in case. I think we now have our 'just in case' moment."

Distressed, in pain, and in no mood to argue, Leonard took the two capsules and three pills resting in the palm of Penny's hand and swallowed them just as Penny opened a cool bottle of water she had purchased at the retail store and handed it to him.

"Good. I'm glad you didn't fight me on the Valium," she spoke softly and ran her fingers through Leonard's hair as he drank some water. "Now you just stay here, I'm going to start the bath."

It took a minute, but Penny found the right mix of hot and cold water to create a wonderful warm bath. Stopping up the tub, she swirled her hand water, mixing it, certain she had gotten the right balance.

Penny returned to the room and still Leonard had not moved.

"OK, sweetie, kick off your shoes and I'll get your socks off."

Using his toes, Leonard crushed each heel of his Converse sneakers and pushed them off. Penny knelt and removed his _Game of Thrones_ socks.

"OK, now up you go," Penny said as she grabbed Leonard's hand and helped him to stand.

Wavering, unsteady on his feet, Leonard nearly topped as Penny undid the button and zipper to his black dungarees. He shimmied slightly and they fell to the floor. Still tightly gripping Penny's hand, he stepped out of the soft puddle of cloth around his ankles and let Penny lead him to the bathroom.

Once in the bathroom, when the fluorescent lighting fully revealed the florid crimson and welts on Leonard's inflamed skin, Penny screamed.

"Jesus Christ! What did he do to you?!"

"Nothing … nothing. Sheldon didn't do anything. It was the both of us. Equally. I was prideful … and lost."

"Jesus! Leonard! You look liked a cooked lobster!"

Penny reached down and shut off the water flowing into the tub. "Let's get your boxers off and you can get in the water." Putting her hand in the elastic band, Penny stretched it and carefully slid Leonard's _Sherlock _boxers down his legs. Now naked, Leonard stepped into the tub and carefully sat down, his breath a sharp intake as the warm water hit the raw, red skin at his waist.

"Ah! Ah! That stings," he moaned as his teeth began to chatter.

"Here. I've got something to help that. I'll be right back."

Penny ran back into Leonard's room and retrieved the CVS bag as well as a pair of clean boxers. Before leaving the room, she turned the bedside light on and repositioned all the pillows on the bed so Leonard could sleep upright and more comfortably tonight.

Retuning to the bathroom, Leonard still sat stiffly in the tub. Sitting on the ledge, Penny pushed the shower curtain away and positioned herself to the side of and just behind Leonard. Going through the CVS bag, she retrieved a bottle of witch hazel. Opening it, she slowly drizzled the fluid over the swollen, red skin on Leonard's shoulders, chest, and back.

Leonard hissed and his back arched as the cold fluid met hot skin. But the witch hazel was soothing and it started to ease the fiery burning.

"Aww! That's helping."

"Good! The woman at the pharmacy said it would. And she also suggested this stuff," Penny pulled a can from the bag, "it's a cortisone and lidocaine spray. She said it would help with the swelling and numb the pain."

"Thank you for doing this Penny. Were they upset that you left work early?"

"Nah. It's all right. It was quiet. But Sheldon doesn't know that and I'm going to charge him for my missed tips. Speaking of which," Penny said as pushed the shower curtain with the Periodic Table further away as she reached over and concentrated on pouring the fluid on Leonard's right side, "you're going to have to get another shower curtain. This one is wrong now that Sheldon discovered that new element."

Leonard groaned.

"What? Are you upset about the shower curtain?"

"No! It's Sheldon's element. I can't … find it. And I feel like an idiot. Again," he added after a moment of thought.

"What do you mean you can't find it?"

"I've been trying to verify its existence but I haven't come up with anything yet. I feel like I'm disproving it more than anything. I've already contacted the research facility in China. I want to review their data to see what I'm missing."

"Well don't worry about that now. You'll find it, I'm sure. Just relax and let the medicines do their work."

Leonard nodded as he began to blink sleepily, his breathing becoming slow and even. The dark curly head slowly lolled forward as his chin came to rest on his chest.

"Leonard?"

Leonard's head popped up. "Oh! I'm sorry! I must have dozed off."

"Let's get you out and I'll put the spray on you."

Penny helped Leonard stand and got him safely out of tub. "You know, come to think of it, I hope I haven't overdosed you with the Valium. It's a dosage for Mrs. Wolowitz and she's four or five times your size. Bernadette did tell me to break the tablet in half but … I forgot to do that," Penny mentioned as she towel dried Leonard's legs and very cute tushie.

"It'll be fine, I'm sure," Leonard slurred as Penny helped him into his Superman boxers.

As Penny began to spray the cortisone/lidocaine mixture on him, the coldness of it woke Leonard up a little more and he saw reflection in the mirror. "Look at me!" He began to moan and his face fell, near tears. "Some Superman."

"Leonard! Aww! Sweetie!" Penny had to resist pulling her boyfriend into a strong embrace. "To me, you are Superman! You wore that sweater for days! Most people would have ripped off the second after they put it on. But you're decent, and principled, and wanted to see this through. If that's not Superman, I don't know what is."

"Thank you, Penny. That was an untrue but very sweet thing to say."

"Well, it's very true for me," she said as she gripped his hand. "Let's get you into bed."

The pillows were fluffed up against the headboard and once settled in bed, Penny propped up each of Leonard's arms on pillows and drew the covers up to his waist.

The Valium and Benadryl were kicking in and Leonard looked at Penny with loving but glazed eyes. "Will you stay with me tonight?"

Penny smiled as she stroked his face and kissed the curls on his head. "Just try and keep me away."

Leonard found that he could either keep his eyes open or speak. He didn't have the strength for both. His eyes slowly closed. "I love you, Penny," he breathed softly.

"I love you too," Penny said as she kissed his lips and ran her fingers through his hair. "I'll be right back. I'm just going to straighten the bathroom."

From Leonard, there was no response, just deep regular breathing.

Penny entered the bathroom and did a quick, cursory cleaning of the area. She didn't give a flying fuck if Sheldon approved or not. She then reached into the CVS bag for the novelty Halloween item she purchased for 75% off (now that the holiday was over) which translated into $1.29 and it was worth every penny.

_Now for Sheldon's teachable moment_ _and the lesson is_ '_never_ _fuck with my man',_ Penny thought as she opened the bag of plastic toy spiders.

Going into the living room, she placed one his spot, set a few on his computer keyboard, and sprinkled some on the cereal boxes on top of the refrigerator. One went into his teacup, and after heading back to Leonard's room, she flicked the others into Sheldon's room under his door.

Smiling and very satisfied, she went into Leonard's room and shut the door. Carefully getting into bed so she didn't disturb her sleeping boyfriend, Penny lay beside him on the left side of his bed. She touched Leonard's left hand and she smiled, as even in his sleep, Leonard's left hand instinctively curled around hers and their fingers intertwined.

…..The End…..

_A/N: Hurt without comfort? Nah. Nah. Nah. Just trying to rectify, through fiction, what was overlooked in The Itchy Brain Simulation._

_As always, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed the story. And as always, comments, critiques, questions, reviews will always be welcomed. _


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